Continuation of the discussion on: Which is more appropriate: to express it as likening Allah to creation, or to express it as comparing Allah to creation?
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The Shaykh : An absolute denial of likening Allah to creation does not hold up. For example: existence is shared in its essence by the Creator and the created. The Creator exists, and the created exists. This is a type of sharing and a type of similarity. But there is a difference between the two existences: the existence of the Creator is obligatory, and the existence of the created is possible. Now, is there sharing in the essence of hearing or not? There is sharing. Man has hearing, and the Creator has hearing. But there is a difference between them, yet the essence of the existence of hearing is present.
So if we say "without likening Allah to creation" and deny likening Allah to creation absolutely, there is a problem in this. And by this, we know that expressing it as comparing Allah to creation is more appropriate from how many angles? Three angles:
First: it is the expression used by the Qur'an.
Second: likening Allah to creation has come to be used by some people in the sense of denying the divine attributes.
Third: it is not correct to deny likening Allah to creation absolutely, for there is no pair of things without some sharing between them, and this sharing is a type of clear similarity. And by this, we know that the correct position is to say "without comparing Allah to creation," which is what the scribe of the Muslim community in his time, the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), expressed, where he said: "and without comparing Allah to creation". The Creator and the created, and the impossibility of complete similarity between the Creator and the created. Good.
So if we say "without likening Allah to creation" and deny likening Allah to creation absolutely, there is a problem in this. And by this, we know that expressing it as comparing Allah to creation is more appropriate from how many angles? Three angles:
First: it is the expression used by the Qur'an.
Second: likening Allah to creation has come to be used by some people in the sense of denying the divine attributes.
Third: it is not correct to deny likening Allah to creation absolutely, for there is no pair of things without some sharing between them, and this sharing is a type of clear similarity. And by this, we know that the correct position is to say "without comparing Allah to creation," which is what the scribe of the Muslim community in his time, the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), expressed, where he said: "and without comparing Allah to creation". The Creator and the created, and the impossibility of complete similarity between the Creator and the created. Good.